Explorers of Darkness: Team Antipode
by Cherry474
Summary: Based on author's playthrough of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Imkal gazed thoughtfully at the piece of rock beside his bed. Slowly, he traced the strange pattern inscribed on it with a claw. He'd stumbled across it one day, and never thought much of it, except for, "Hey, this is a pretty cool design."

But for the first time, Imkal was beginning to wonder about it. Where did it come from? What did that pattern mean? The more he brushed the feeling aside, the stronger his curiosity when it returned. With a groan, the Totodile climbed out of his woven grass nest and picked up the stone. This was something best mulled over while watching the Krabby blow bubbles at the sunset.

He made his way from Sharpedo Bluff and cut through Treasure Town, the Pokémon settlement dying slowly for the night, except for the ever-vigilant Duskull at the bank, who watched him pass with a glowing red eye.

Iridescent bubbles were already drifting into the soft orange glow of the sinking sun as Imkal walked along the shore, watching the rainbow of colors within them.

He didn't see the waterlogged orange body until he'd almost tripped over it.

"What the…?"

It was a Torchic, feathers soaked to the skin and eyes squeezed tightly shut. She was breathing shallowly.

"Hey! Are you all right?" Imkal started to go towards one of the Krabby to ask for help, but they were all scuttling back into their homes for the night. The bubbles vanishing slowly as the light dwindled, Imkal returned attention to the unconscious Pokémon before him. What if he'd gotten there a moment too late and these breaths were her last?

"Ngh…" A soft groan from the Fire-type's beak was enough to convince him otherwise.

"Hey, wake up. Wake up. Are you all right?"

"Mm…" She opened her eyes. "What happened…?"

"You tell me."

She blinked and looked up at him, sitting up for a second but falling down with a startled squawk. "A Totodile?"

"Yeah. Hi." He helped her sit up again.

"You can talk?"

What kind of question was _that_? "Are you all right? Did you hit your head or something?"

"I wish I knew… How'd you learn to speak English?"

"English? That's a human language, right? I'm afraid I don't know a word of it."

"But you're…you just said that in English."

"No I didn't." Now he was _sure_ she'd hit her head. Crying shame, too. Female Torchic were pretty rare. In this state of mind, she wouldn't make a good mother at all. That's five or so less Torchic for the world. At least she wasn't somewhere on a Starter Farm.

"If you're not speaking English, what language _are_ you speaking?"

"Pokémon, of course. Why, are you hearing English?"

"Yes!"

"You must've had a pretty patient Trainer to have learned it in the first place. You get shipwrecked?"

"Trainer? What are you talking about? Why can't I feel my arms?"

"Arms? Oh, no, we're _devolving_ now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You used to have arms. Were you a Combusken or a Blaziken before getting shipwrecked?"

"Wait a minute, what are you talking about? Last thing I know, I was… I was… Was… What _was_ I doing last?"

"Amnesia?"

"Ugh…darn it, I guess. The last thing I remember was waking up here with you."

"At least you survived. You're one lucky Pokémon."

"_Pokémon_? I'm _human._"

"You look like a normal Torchic to me. A very wet Torchic, but a Torchic."

"No way! See these hands?" She moved her wing. When she, of course, didn't see a human hand in front of her face, she panicked, leaping to her feet. "Oh no! What's happened to me?"

"Um…either you've gone insane, or, somehow, you're telling the truth."

"Gee, thanks." She looked at her new legs and bent them experimentally. If she used to be human, as she claimed, then her legs would now be jointed the wrong way. "I'm a Torchic! _How did this happen?_"

"There's nothing wrong with Torchic. Female Torchic are actually pretty rare."

A short, wailing moan of dismay. "Yeah, but if I had to turn into a Pokémon, why couldn't I have been Charmander or Treecko? You know, something with _arms_."

"Wet as you are now, I don't think you'd have wanted to be a Charmander."

"But I …Oh. Good point."

Imkal sighed. "So you have amnesia. Do you at least remember your name?"

"Yeah. It's Angie. Angie McCall."

"That sounds like a human name, all right. A surname, even. I'm not so sure I believe you, Angie, but for now, I don't think it makes much of a difference. My name's Imkal."

"Imkal? What kind of a name is that?"

"Well what kind of a name is Angie McCall?"

"A _normal_ one!"

"Not to me."

"Well, Imkal isn't normal to me, either."

"…Never mind. Look, I'll take you back to my place. It's getting dark, I can't just leave you here." He turned and started to lead the way, but looked back over his shoulder. "And Imkal means 'Crashing Waves' in saurian dialect. That's what kind of name it is."

"Whatever. …Ack!" Angie tried to take a step, but didn't move her leg the right way and fell over.

Imkal sighed. "Geez. All right, hold on, I'll help you." He walked over and set down his Relic Fragment to pick her up. "There, all set. Remember, your legs move like your arms now."

"You believe me?"

"No, but it's all I have to go on." He shrugged.

"Oh…" Angie looked down at the Relic Fragment. "Oh, what a pretty pattern." She tilted sideways a bit before groaning at her lack of arms and lifting a foot to trace the pattern with her claw. Of course, she wound up falling over again.

"Yeah, that's my Relic Fragment," said Imkal, setting her on her feet again.

"What's that?"

"I don't know. I've been wondering about it recently. Maybe I'll set off to try and figure it out someday."

"…Oh, okay."

And then a voice came from the deepening shadows of the rock.

"Relic Fragment? Sounds valuable. Heh-heh-heh…"

"Who's there?" Imkal demanded, stepping forward to guard his Fragment.

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know?" came another voice from behind him. He spun around, as did Angie, but they both were met with a cloud of poisonous gas. Imkal doubled over coughing (Koffing, that _had_ to be what had attacked him – he'd caught a glimpse of the skull-mark), eyes stinging from the gas as a blue form snatched up his treasure and carried it away on leathery-sounding wings.

"Hey-!" he called, still coughing. A twilight breeze had come in, and it blew the cloud of gas out to sea. Eyes narrowed, the Totodile started to race off after them, but stopped when he heard the soft _thump_ of a body hitting the sand. He looked over his shoulder, and Angie was struggling to keep up with him, tripping over her own legs, but managing to stand every time.

"It'll be two-on-one if I don't go with you," said the Torchic as she fell over again.

"Angie? You'd help me get it back?"

"Yeah. You offered me your home, right? It's only fair."

"You're gonna slow me down."

"Well, how am I supposed to learn if you don't let me come along?"

Imkal sighed heavily. "Fine. There's only one place they could've gone from here. That cave up ahead." He pointed to the hollow in the rock face. "I've been in there lots of times, and I know for a fact it dead-ends a _lot_. And it's a Mystery Dungeon, so they can't have memorized it."

"What's a Mystery Dungeon?"

"I'll explain it to you on the way. If you're gonna help me, let's follow them."


	2. Chapter 2

"Stick close to me," Imkal warned as Angie stumbled and tripped along behind him. Slowly but steadily, she was getting better at moving.

A clammy, cold feeling washed over him as he passed through the mouth of the cave, marking his entrance into a Mystery Dungeon.

"What was that?" Angie asked, shivering.

Imkal turned around to face her and pointed with a claw. "Look behind you."

Angie turned to see the mouth of the cave had vanished. Letting out a squawk, she hopped back, tripped, and tumbled straight into Imkal. The Totodile caught her easily, since she was almost half his height and only weighed five or so pounds due to being hollow-boned.

"Wh…what happened to the entrance?" she asked, righting herself with her new ally's help.

"Welcome to your first Mystery Dungeon," said Imkal, gesturing for her to follow as he started ahead through the water-filled cavern. They had some thieves to catch, after all. "They're magical places that aren't quite _here_. They change every five hours or so."

There was plenty of pale red bioluminescent moss on the walls to light their way as Imkal led Angie into a tunnel. She was wobbly and still tripping over her own feet, but she hadn't actually _fallen_ for awhile.

"Anyway," Imkal continued, "once you go in, or go up or down a floor, you can't turn back until you reach the very end."

"And what if the thieves reach the very end before we do?"

"Then they get out and can go anywhere before we get out behind them. It's as good as getting away."

"Then we have to catch up to them! It's my fault you had to put it down in the first place! Let's go, Imkal!"

Angie zoomed past him with a ruffling of feathers, wobbling wildly as she turned a corner, but managed to stay on her feet. Pokémon brains were wired to adapt to new musculature quickly, due to the massive changes that can take place during evolution. And, apparently, a human turning into a Pokémon (if she was telling the truth) was no exception.

"Wait up!" Imkal protested, racing after her. Already, she was learning how to steady herself by digging her claws into the ground – her tracks on the dirt floor were more defined, more Torchic-like. The Totodile had to leap into the water and swim to keep sight of her, thrashing his body back and forth through the clear pool.

Suddenly, Angie's shriek echoed back to him through the tunnel. Imkal hit the end of the pool and started to climb out, but something sharp against his tail provoked him to whirl and bite. The Kabuto that had attacked him quickly drew back, but not fast enough, as the Totodile's jaws closed on its gleaming yellow claw. The blue Pokémon thrashed and rolled, dragging the Water/Rock Pokémon underwater, all the while twisting its claw. A fierce blow from his tail, and the Kabuto fainted, sinking to the bottom.

Imkal climbed out of the pool and rushed ahead to catch up with Angie. He found the Torchic on her back, one claw snagged in a Shellder's shell. She was scratching wildly at the other Pokémon with her free foot, but not doing much good. Imkal gave the Shellder his most intimidating leer, and it flinched back just enough for Angie's next scratch to strike someplace vital, causing the Pokémon to shudder and faint, its shell creaking wide open for the Fire-type to pull her claw free.

"Why did it attack me?" she asked. "We're all Pokémon here, right?"

"Pokémon that live in Mystery Dungeons are different," said Imkal, righting Angie. "Their ancestors got trapped here a long time ago. They've known nothing but kill or be killed. Mostly, they form packs or schools or whatever you want to call them." He began to walk, and Angie followed alongside him, forced to keep pace with him so she could hear what he was saying. "But outsiders like us – we _smell_ different – are always a threat. Even if they're from rival groups, they'd team up to get rid of us."

"Why? We're just here to get your treasure back!"

"Because," said Imkal, stopping to pick up an Oran Berry, "The Dungeon provides food, money, and supplies. All of which explorers want and can get out with." He held the Oran Berry out for Angie. "Here, eat this. It'll help heal you up."

The Torchic opened her beak wide and took a huge bite out of the berry, its juices dribbling down her chest. "That's weird…it tastes like…"

"Eat the rest," interrupted Imkal, glancing around worriedly. Now that it'd been bitten into, the Pokémon in the area would smell the food and come after them.

Sure enough, as Angie wolfed down the rest, two Kabuto and a Corsola emerged from the water and began making their way towards them.

"Intimidate them," said Imkal, narrowing his eyes. "It'll weaken them. I know Leer, you should know Growl."

"Um…"

"Quickly."

Angie gave a shaky attempt at a Growl. It came out sounding feeble and unsure. Imkal shook his head and charged at the Corsola, whirling to give it a solid whack with his tail.

"If you can't Growl right, attack them. Don't Scratch, they're all half-Rock."

"I _know_ my Types!"

"Good. Then remember it and remember _you're_ the one fighting now. Keep your head cool."

Thanks to the open area, they managed to clear the room of their wild enemies fairly quickly, despite more seeming to show up from nowhere. They had probably stumbled into a nest.

"Not bad. You're not used to this, but looks like your battle instincts are in good shape." Imkal patted a winded Angie on the back. "These guys have probably slowed those thieves down as much as they have us. Let's keep going."

"Right!"

A little bit of walking later, Imkal stopped Angie and bent down to pick up a small yellow seed, with strange, curved markings in the shell, almost like a human fingerprint.

"What's that?"

"It's called a Sleep Seed," said Imkal. "Don't eat it unless you're starving or you like being knocked out cold. When the shell cracks, it releases this gas, causes whatever's nearby to fall asleep. Hold onto it, it's a good weapon."

Soon enough, they came to some stairs, crudely-carved into the floor. The area below was dark.

"Remember, this is a Mystery Dungeon," said Imkal. "Once we go down, we can't go directly back."

"That means even if we get ahead of the thieves, we can't miss them!"

"Hmm…"

"Let's keep going!"

And so they did. Imkal didn't correct Angie's logic, it would take up too much time. But the Totodile knew the thieves could easily outwit them if they followed Angie's rash decisions. For instance, if they got to the very end and the thieves weren't there, how would they know whether they were ahead or behind? But she was so much faster than he was, there was no way he could lead the way. It took all he had just to keep pace.

Three more floors of fighting and looking for the stairs, they emerged into an open cavern lined with water. The Koffing and Zubat who had stolen Imkal's Relic Fragment were heading away from them, towards a strange black panel in the floor.

"Hey!" Imkal challenged. "Give back what you stole!"

"Heh-heh-heh…" the Koffing laughed, turning around and pushing a plume of gas into the air. "Look who caught up, Bielder. It's the chumps."

"Let's just get outta here, Potir, I don't think we're that much more powerful…"

"Heh-heh, what a wuss! All right, go on and get outta here with the rock, I'll catch up to you."

Bielder turned to leave, but Angie had other plans.

"No you don't, bat boy!" She grabbed the Sleep Seed from Imkal's hand, and, cocking her leg, hurled it at the retreating Zubat. It hit the Pokémon's leathery blue back, and burst open.

The Relic Fragment dropped, and Bielder fell on top of it, fast asleep.

Imkal rushed forward to attack the Koffing, launching himself into a headfirst Tackle that knocked the gas-filled Pokémon to the ground.

Angie, meanwhile, raced towards the sleeping Zubat and dug her claws into his back, leaving long, bloody marks across it. Bielder still didn't wake up, sleeping deeply from the effects of the Sleep Seed.

Potir released a cloud of noxious gas, sending Imkal into a harsh coughing fit, his body shuddering as he inhaled the cloud. He felt sick to his stomach – Poisoned. But the Totodile lashed out with his tail again, a growl escaping his toothy mouth. "It's bad enough the Wild Ones are getting more aggressive, but we've gotta deal with criminals in civilization, too. You should be ashamed."

"Ashamed? Me? Heh, what a twit. Listen to yourself." Potir floated up, out of range.

He seemed ready to attack, but something caught his eye. Angie had gone all-out in her attacks on his Zubat ally, and at this rate…this battle couldn't be won. He wouldn't stand a chance against the both of them.

The Koffing sent out a thick cloud of poisonous gas that drove Angie away and swept up his fellow Poison-type, immune to its effects. "We'll get you next time, chumps, just you wait." And, with that, he retreated to the exit, vanishing from the cave.

"We did it!" Angie cheered, leaping into the air. "We got your Relic Fragment back!"

"Ha, we did, didn't we? Thanks, Angie."

"No problem! I'm not falling anymore!"

"Yeah, that was good practice." Imkal walked over to retrieve his precious treasure. "It should be dark now. We should head to my place and rest. We'll discuss what to do next in the morning."


End file.
